After allegedly calling student racial slur, driver barred from Anne Arundel school bus for one year

Delray Johnson said his son Haidyn was called a racial slur by a bus driver on a ride home from Walter S. Mills-Parole Elementary School on Wednesday. The Anne Arundel Public Schools system is investigating the allegation.

Delray Johnson said his son Haidyn was called a racial slur by a bus driver on a ride home from Walter S. Mills-Parole Elementary School on Wednesday. The Anne Arundel Public Schools system is investigating the allegation.

A spokesman for Anne Arundel County schools said Monday a bus driver who allegedly called a third-grader a racial slur last month will no longer transport students.

Ross Cohen, former owner of Annapolis Bus Co., was decertified as a driver for one year after the investigation of an incident May 2 in Annapolis. The company that now owns his firm was fined because the video camera on the bus was not operating that day.

Schools spokesman Bob Mosier declined to discuss the specifics of the investigation as it was a personnel matter.

“The result of the investigation was that the driver will no longer be driving a bus that transports Anne Arundel County Public Schools students,” Mosier wrote in an email.

Student Haidyn Johnson, 9, texted his parents May 2 saying a man filling in for his regular driver called him a slur in the context of asking him to move, while he was headed home from Walter S. Mills Parole-Elementary School.

Delray Johnson said the incident was degrading for his son.

“For him to use it on my son, in that way, yes, that hurt me to my heart,” Johnson told The Capital.

“The board was not able to positively prove or disprove whether or not the alleged incident occurred as there were conflicting accounts by the elementary students involved,” spokesman Doug Coupe wrote in an email.

Coupe said Monday it was the first such allegation against Cohen in a 22-year career, adding that he has vigorously denied using such language.

On April 6, Chesapeake High Principal Stephen Gorski sent a letter home to parents saying a fight with racial overtones had broken out at the school. The Capital's Rachael Pacella discusses the story.

On April 6, Chesapeake High Principal Stephen Gorski sent a letter home to parents saying a fight with racial overtones had broken out at the school. The Capital's Rachael Pacella discusses the story.

Key School, an exclusive private school in Annapolis, is at the center of a newly released report that details a history of alleged sexual abuse that went unchecked between the 1970s and early 1990s. The report concluded 10 adults in authority positions engaged in sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships with at least 16 former students.

Key School, an exclusive private school in Annapolis, is at the center of a newly released report that details a history of alleged sexual abuse that went unchecked between the 1970s and early 1990s. The report concluded 10 adults in authority positions engaged in sexual misconduct or inappropriate relationships with at least 16 former students.

Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action on Gun Violence held a joint press conference at the Maryland House of Delegates Office Building with delegates, survivors and activists to promote gun control legislation this session.

Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action on Gun Violence held a joint press conference at the Maryland House of Delegates Office Building with delegates, survivors and activists to promote gun control legislation this session.

This story has been updated to correct the Anne Arundel County Public Schools decision on Ross Cohen. He was decertified for one year.